Thai pork meatballs

Here's a little treat I served up recently to some lovely guests who recently joined us for dinner. They are a tasty appetizer which fitted in with the Thai themed feast.

To make about 30 small meatballs, you need:

500g pork mince
2 spring onions, sliced thinly
2 T fresh corriander, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 T oyster sauce
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp brown sugar
a good spash of tobasco sauce
1 egg
about half a cup of breadcrumbs
a little flour

Just mix everything together, except for the flour. Add enough breadcrums so that the meat takes on a firm texture. You don't want it to be sloppy, but it has to be able to hold together.

Then, just roll into little balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Put them into the fridge to firm up for about half an hour before dusting them with flour and frying in a little vegetable oil until golden and cooked.

Drain on paper towels and serve them on a bed of lettuce with Thai sweet chilli sauce for dipping.

Alternatively, you could form them into rissoles, which would be lovely on a burger, in a wrap, or with thai rice. They are also great the next day, cold from the fridge, thrown on a salad or popped into a hungry mouth!

Thai Pork Stir-Fry

I am absolutely crazy about Thai food. I think I must have been a Thai in a past life. I could probably eat it every day of the week! I love the spiciness, the mix of robust flavours, and the use of crunchy fresh vegetables.

Here is a recipe which I created myself, perfected by adapting it each time.

Ingredients:

about 300g lean pork (fillet is best, I think), thinly sliced

half an onion, thinly sliced

a clove of garlic, crushed

about an inch of grated ginger

mix of your fave vegies; I used snow peas, capsicum, baby corn, carrot, and bok choy

a quarter to half a cup of chicken stock

a handful of cashews, almonds, or both

Sauce:

half a cup of chicken stock

2 tsp cornstarch

3 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

a splash of lime

1 chopped dried chilli (2 if you like more heat)

some dried lemongrass

about 2 shredded dried karrir lime leaves

Method:

First, heat a bit of canola oil in a wok or frying pan. Stir fry the onion, garlic and ginger for about a minute. Then, add the pork. Stir fry for about 2 minutes, or until the pork looks cooked. Remove all of this from the pan and set aside.

Then, throw in the chicken stock. Basically, you are going to steam your vegies. Add the vegies, starting with the hardest ones first, briefly covering the wok with a lid so that your vegies steam in there.

In the meantime, prepare the sauce. First, mix the cornstarch with a little of the chicken stock to form a paste. Now, add the rest of the chicken stock and all the other sauce ingredients.

Back to the vegies. Once they are just about done, all you do is throw it all together. Add to the pan the reserved pork, the sauce mixture and the nuts. Give it all a big stir and cook briefly until the sauce is thick and hot.

Serve over steamed jasmine rice, and add a garnish. This portion serves two!

Viola!

You should note that it might be nice to add some fresh corriander to this. Unfortunately, I can't buy fresh corriander at any supermarkets near me, hence my reliance on dried ingredients for the Thai flavour. But it works pretty well!